Reply #6: Part V

[Gabi Hayes]

In considering how we should respond, I had learned that the District Court in New York had found the entire NSL statue unconstitutional because of prima facie violations of the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments. So, by the time the letter arrived, on July 13, 2005, I had made up my mind to oppose this effort. One of the two FBI agents served the letter on me, and pointed out that the letter requested information we had about the use of a specific IP address that was registered to Library Connection, Inc. He also pointed out the letter’s gag order prohibited Library Connection from disclosing to anyone that the FBI was attempting to obtain information from our library business records

We could not fathom any “exigent” nature for the FBI request. I was struck that: 1) the letter was dated May 19, almost two months before the FBI served the letter on July 13th and 2) it was addressed to Ken Sutton, the person they had called to get the correct addressee. The requested information was for use of an IP address five months earlier, on February 15.

At the same time, I did not want to impede the investigation of a perilous situation that endangered my country or my fellow citizens. Because the letter was dated two months before it was delivered to me, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the FBI was not in a rush to get the information they wanted. I told the Agent that I had reason to believe that the use of NSLs was unconstitutional, and that I wanted to consult my attorney before complying with the request. The agent wrote a phone number on the back of his business card and said my attorney could call that number.

After the FBI agents left, I called Library Connection’s attorney and asked what to do. The attorney informed me that the only way I could contest compliance with a national security letter was to go to court against the Attorney General of the United States.

I did not feel that I could take a step like that on my own. The by-laws of our corporation grant the Executive Director the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the corporation. However, I did not feel it would be morally right to engage the consortium in a legal battle with the Attorney General on my own. Library Connection receives no Federal, state, county, or grant funding. Our annual budget is around one million dollars, and our entire financial support comes from our member libraries, which must take the expense of belonging to Library Connection out of their own operating budgets. For all I knew, suing the Attorney General might lead to a dispute that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Any costs associated with this effort would have to be borne by our member libraries, and I did not feel I had the authority to commit the libraries or their funds on my own.